Spotify Playlists

I have a bunch of different Spotify Playlists, but one of my favorites is Feelin’ Groovesalad. It’s one of my most active ones that I add to the most… Right now it has over 200 songs and I add about 5 more cool finds a week. Enjoy!

Daily Photo – A Dreamy Day in Glenorchy

Every time I make a trip to Glenorchy I come away with a winner photo or two. The whole place is so photogenic! I should be driving over there once a week or something. Actually, I'm home for a little six-week stint now before a SE Asia trip, so I'm going to set aside more time to visit some old favorite haunts and get some photos! I've been pretty busy organizing all my photos and preparing some unique content for Passport members, but most of that is finished now so I can take more photos.

Video Tip on Denoising Mobile Shots

Many of you may have my Google Pixel 2 Review on the site, so you know I take a lot more mobile photos than usual. As great as the camera is, there is still some noise in sunset photos and night photos. This video below shows you how I get rid of the noise using Aurora HDR 2018.

Daily Photo – The Dart River Valley

I took this from a helicopter while my friend Choppy was flying me out on a work for a patron. I flew over this delta probably about 10 times, and it looks different every time. This is one of my favorite shots with the shadows of the mountains falling halfway across it.

There is a jet-boat adventure you can do through here. I still haven't tried it, but it's on my to-do list!

Looking to get away from cold USA Winters?

A bit of Post-Processing Love

This one was a fun little photo. I show you how to increase the sharpness and glow to selected areas of the image using layers. Thank you again for being a Passport Member and I hope you enjoy today’s edit!

Exclusive content for Passport members

Daily Photo – Tree in Waiheke

The hilly areas of New Zealand (which is probably like 75%!) are filled with these huge trees that are just kinda hanging out alone on hilltops. Many times I see some distant tree and I think, “Hey, I should walk over there!” So, this day on Waiheke I did! You usually have to jump over a fence or four, but no one ever minds. You can walk through these hills all day long and never see another soul!

Hasselblad X1D Review

I recently added some more photos to the Hasselblad X1D Review here on the site so, go have a look! However, if you are following the blog lately, then you may know I’m switching mostly over to the Sony A7R Mark 3!

Aurora HDR 2018 Free Update

As is often the case, the photo below was processed with Aurora HDR and it has just been updated for both Mac and Windows. If you already have Aurora you can automatically update from inside the app. If you don’t, grab it (including a free trial option) in the store! It’s now in its 11th iteration and the team at Skylum is making steady updates.

For those who have Aurora, here’s what’s new…

WINDOWS USERS

Improved Sliders: You can now directly enter values into a slider with the keyboard.

Improved presets: Applying multiple presets now handled correctly.

Cropping improvements: The cropped state of an image is now correctly captured in the native Aurora HDR file.

Improved user experience: We’ve refined the software to make it easier to use based on user feedback and testing.

Daily Photo – The Hills Near Arrowtown

This was one of my first stops when I got my Hasselblad X1D. Up at The Hills country club, there are some very beautiful rolling hills in almost every direction. Since I'm a landscape photographer, it's a simple turkey-shoot! You can just kind of look in any direction and get a good shooting situation. That makes testing the camera a bit easier. I found myself going right into Manual mode because of the Live EVF. I still had to use the camera for about a month before I was totally comfortable with it, however.

Exclusive content for Passport members

Daily Photo – Visiting Waiheke

Thanks again to my friend Deanie for letting my family stay at her place on Waiheke! It was a great little vacation after Tina's doctor visit in Auckland. Waiheke is less than an hour away by ferry and it's like a perfect little island getaway! There are so many cool beaches and awesome places to visit. If you have an extra few days on your next trip to New Zealand, be sure to come over thisaway!

My Instagram Stories

I advise you to watch my Instagram Stories only if you have absolutely nothing better to do. This should be your absolute last-resort, like after you’ve seen absolutely every show on Netflix. Then, and only then, you should watch all the silly stuff I put on my Instagram Stories.

Daily Photo – Fly, My Pretties!

This is what I scream every time my quadcopter takes off. You have probably seen this angle of the mountains a million times by now; that's because this is what the mountains look like about 100 meters over my studio! But this was a very special evening because of this colorful summer storm that moved in. These were the colors… nothing added or subtracted! If you were watching my Instagram live stories from that day you may remember!

Time for a Passport Freebie! Panorama Processing Tip

Last year I made over 50 videos for Passport Members to see first or exclusively. I wanted to share this one publicly as sort of a promotion for the kinds of things you might see inside.

There are a lot of ways to skin the panorama cat. 90% of the time, this is the way I do it in the video below. To me, it just looks better than when the computer tries to auto-stitch it and remove the stitch lines.

Daily Photo – Jack's Point Clubhouse

And here's the final result. Pretty cool eh? And it didn't take much time at all. If you ever get out to the Queenstown area, be sure to pop over to Jack's Point and visit the clubhouse here. Anyone can go and there's a really good restaurant inside. Just outside is this perfect little pond. If you get there early enough (or on a windless day), the reflection is perfect!

DJI Mavic

I’m slowly working on the Mavic review now that I have one in hand. I paid full price for this thing, and I am very excited! Getting new toys is always fun. I plan on doing a few side-by-side flights of the Mavic and the Phantom and comparing the video and photos between the two.

A message from Denver

Thank you Passport Members! Here’s a quick video to show behind-the-scenes of the charity you’re helping to fund!

Exclusive content for Passport members

Daily Photo – A Balloon in the Morning Fog

If I was more of a morning person, I'd definitely head over here to Lake Hayes for a morning walk much more. Maybe when I get older, I'll be more of a morning person. Or maybe I should just to bed earlier and stop watching Netflix till midnight! I can only blame myself.

Screenflow Review!

If you’re interested in a quick way to edit videos or do a screen recording, be sure to check out my Screenflow Review I just finished here on the blog. I’ll embed the video from the review right here below to give you a taste!

Oldie But Goodie!

Here’s one of the first videos I made when I moved to this area about six years ago. It’s called 30 Days and 30 Nights in Queenstown. It’s pretty much the only time-lapse I have ever made. It was so time-consuming that I haven’t had time to make another one!

Daily Photo – Driving Off Towards Glenorchy

I should make this drive once a week! I don't know why I don't. It's so beautiful here and the water and sky are different enough each time to make it worth it. Also, when you get to the end of the road about 25 minutes later, there are some great spots for lunch and relaxation.

Insta360 Camera Review

What a fun cool camera! 🙂 I just finished the Insta360 Review here on the blog. I hope you enjoy! There’s a video there and everything featuring a strange-talkin’ Russian.

Upcoming Travel Schedule!

I’m headed on a fun trip with the family again in January! We’ll be in Dallas, Austin, Denver, Sarasota, Grand Cayman, Key Biscayne, Hawaii, and then Japan again! I’ve got my cameras all dusted off and ready to go!

Daily Photo – Hard to Believe the Google Pixel Took this, eh?

Isn't it though! And this was taken with the Pixel 1; now I have the Pixel 2 and it's even better. I've challenged myself several times ONLY to use the Pixel 2 some days (btw Google is not a sponsor… I bought mine full price). Some of the photos that are coming out of it are totally unbelievable! I don't like editing on such a small screen, so I often download the images to my laptop and edit there.